Pawn Inclination
Pawn Inclination dictates the behavior of a Pawn both in and out of combat. Inclinations are an easily overlooked and important aspect of pawn performance. Managing inclinations is critical to maintaining an effective Main Pawn. Main Pawn inclinations are initially decided by answering the different questions available during their creation. Inclinations can be modified at any time by using the Knowledge Chair found at Inns and Rest Camps, or directly and most efficiently by using the Inclination Elixirs, which are purchased from Johnathan at the Command Tent in the Encampment. Pawn battle behaviors are strongly influenced by the first three inclinations, and there is a hint of the fourth. All other inclinations lower in primacy than the fourth position are effectively invisible. Pawns start off the game as a blank slate. Once they approach forty to sixty hours of active play, consistent Arisen behavior can cause the inclination tables to stabilize into a recognizable pattern of behavior in battle, such as it is, and the pawn is far less likely to shift inclinations as quickly as it did at the beginning of the game. The Neutralizing Elixir is used to erase pawn behaviors.... all of a pawn's existing behavioral patterns will be wiped away as if they never existed. What the Neutralizing Elixir does is moves all of the pawn's inclination tables back to the mid-range value of 500, which is the way the the pawn starts the game at creation; this erases the beneficial effect of inclinations that have been pushed under values of 500 during gameplay. It takes approximately 40-60 hours of steady gameplay to restore inclination values that had been under 500 back to those low values. :For issues with Pawn behavior, see Pawn Inclination troubleshooting Inclinations The inclinations are : Initial Inclinations The Main Pawn's inclinations are initially set by answering a series of questions available at the time of creation. The result of choosing a particular answer is displayed on a graph. All inclinations are present in the form of a table in the pawn's stats throughout the lifetime of the save game file; just because one cannot see inclinations beyond the second or perhaps third position does not mean they do not exist. Inclinations are fluid. They shift either minutely or quickly in response to all actions performed by the player and by certain events occurring during battle. Rented pawns' inclinations remain fixed during the entire period of the rent, however their actions can influence the Main Pawn's behaviors. This is most common when renting Guardians, since Guardian behavior will affect the Main Pawn by increasing the need for the Main Pawn's battle participation due to their unresponsiveness to ranged and magick attacks. Modifying Inclinations Elixirs The Neutralizing Elixir erases all inclination behaviours. It can be used and then followed by further elixirs, or followed by the player modeling tactics; e.g., battle training. Inclination Elixirs can be used to set primary, secondary, and unseen tertiary inclinations immediately and directly. Knowledge Chairs allow the secondary and tertiary inclination to be swapped in importance, or left as is. If the Pawn has no primary inclination an elixir will set the primary inclination, after that the secondary inclination will be set - if the secondary inclination is already set and an elixir is used, the current secondary will become the (undisplayed) tertiary inclination. However, if an inclination elixir of the same type as the Pawn's secondary inclination is used, then that inclination becomes the new primary inclination, and the former primary is pushed down to become the new secondary inclination. Arisen Actions Additionally, Arisen behavior will constantly modify or re-inforce the Main Pawn's inclinations. Actions that affect your pawn's inclinations are: *Fighting style - ranged or close combat, or healer or spellcaster *Climbing and other combat behaviors, including grappling enemies *Non-combat actions, such as regular use of gathering or mining *The battle orders the Arisen issues; i.e, "come", "go", "help" *The fighting style of hired pawns. Every time the game makes a movement for your pawn in response to an external stimuli, an inclination in your pawn's table shifts in terms of importance and/or intensity by a very small amount. :Over time, your pawn will grow to mirror your own behaviours. Knowledge chairs The Knowledge Chair allows the Arisen to switch or retain the Main Pawn's secondary and tertiary inclinations - the pawn will pose a question indicating the behaviors corresponding to its secondary and tertiary inclinations. If the pawn has no inclinations listed or only one listed, the unseen inclinations all have the same value and the pawn will automatically question the Arisen in order to sort those values out. Determining Inclinations Primary and Secondary Pawn Inclination can be checked in the "Status" section of the pause menu and is listed under the "Profile" heading. The Tertiary Inclination can be determined by using a Knowledge Chair - it will be given as a choice together with the current secondary inclination. If a pawn has only one or no inclinations indicated, that means multiple inclination values are identical. For example, Rook, who has the single inclination of Challenger, that represents his strongest inclination and all others in Rook's inclination table have values that are exactly the same. If Rook were a Main Pawn and questioned in the Knowledge Chair by his Arisen, he would pose a series of questions that would sort out two inclinations to occupy the secondary and tertiary positions. Setting Your Pawn's Inclinations in Detail It is known that a pawn's inclinations are ordered in value in a list, and that the latest stimuli to the Inclination table is the most important in terms of primacy. Therefore, by multiple use of of Elixirs (or through general gameplay) a list with multiple inclinations in order can be generated. For Example: The Arisen wishes to set their main pawn, as a Utilitarian/Challenger/Mitigator/Medicant/Pioneer. The elixirs to be taken in order are : *Pioneer's Elixir, Medicant's Elixir, Mitigator's Elixir, Challenger's Elixir, Utilitarian's Elixir, Utilitarian's Elixir :alternatively: *Neutralizing Elixir, Pioneer's Elixir, Medicant's Elixir, Mitigator's Elixir, Challenger's Elixir, Utilitarian's Elixir, Utilitarian's Elixir One applies Elixirs in reverse order; the last applied Elixir becomes the primary inclination. It is not recommended to wipe the pawn's Inclinations with a Neutralizing Elixir, as not only will it erase all learned behavior and prior Inclination knowledge, it will also cause the pawn to rapidly shift inclinations while the values in the inclination table re-fill. This lasts,generally, for 40 to 60 hours of gameplay after the use of a Neutralizing Elixir. This is why newly-created pawns need 40-60 hours of gameplay to fill their tables and acquire a 'personality', such as it is. For inclination stability, it is recommended to use successively larger amounts of Elixirs to step inclination intensity and importance in the pawn's inclination table. A useful formula to set pawn inclinations is 3-5-7-9 potions, in reverse order of importance. Therefore, using the example of Utilitarian/Challenger/Mitigator/Medicant, applying: *3 Medicant *5 Mitigator *7 Challenger *9 Utilitarian will achieve the desired result, and the pawn will be less likely to spontaneously shift inclinations during gameplay. Notes *Each inclination description corresponds to an internally-stored behavioral trait, their descriptions are : **# Scather - Belligerent **# Medicant - Prudent **# Mitigator - Strategy **# Challenger - Poor Aim **# Utilitarian - Tactics **# Guardian - Protection **# Nexus - Same Support **# Pioneer - Curiousity **# Acquisitor - Gather **Each name is fairly descriptive, excluding Challenger - "Poor Aim" must be a reference to ridding the battlefield of ranged threats. This is most likely a mis-translation as pawns are fearsomely accurate shooters. **Each trait has is given a value in the range 0 to 1000 - the Neutralizing Elixir resets all values to 500. This is why the Neutralizing Elixir erases battle behavior; it makes all inclinations equal in value. **An inclination potion raises the tendency of a primary trait by 150 or 100 points per use. **Use of an inclination potion for a non-primary and non-secondary trait raises that inclination to the value of the secondary inclination, and reduces the value of the old secondary to that of the tertiary inclination - the tertiary inclination is also reduced in value somewhat. All lesser inclinations are unchanged in order or in tendency. *The Left d-pad command encourages Medicant inclination when out of battle, Utilitarian when in battle. The left d-pad will ask for an elemental buff and call for healing, if necessary. *The Right d-pad command encourages Guardian both in and out of battle. It will ask a Mage for healing (any pawn with group curatives in its inventory will also respond if no Mage is in the party) and can call the Main Pawn back to the Arisen's side. Category:Concepts Category:Tutorial Category:Help Category:Pawns Category:Inclinations